Financial Planning for Entrepreneurs – Different, Not Difficult
I am not sure how I convinced Scarlett to give the financial planning process one more chance. Her experience with financial planners had been awful. The meetings made her feel dumb — “They looked at me like I was nuts for what I thought was a very simple question. How much do I need to grow and sell my business for, to be financially independent forever?” Scarlett is a great entrepreneur who built her business from scratch to well over $5 million in revenue in 10 years.
She went on to say, “For my company I can invest in rapid growth or I choose to grow organically over time. But what do I need, personally, to be financially independent? All the financial planners wanted to talk about was savings rate and retirement. My business is my retirement. If I don’t succeed in business, the retirement question becomes a mute point. I need a goal. My business has goals so why couldn’t they help me understand my personal target.”
It’s a common disconnect for most planners when it comes to dealing with entrepreneurs. They are not used to people that can create their own destiny. In less than 30 minutes, we mapped out the growth rate required in the business to achieve her goal and I would be shocked if she will not exceed it over the next few years.
In my experience with entrepreneurs, I see 3 common frustrations entrepreneurs have with financial planning process.
- Lack of Control – You are in control of your business but not in control of your personal finance. Entrepreneurs can take information and make magic happen. Unfortunately, the lack of simple metrics at home leaves many feeling hopeless.
- Wrong people – It seems like nobody listens, understands nor follows through. The CPA, lawyer and financial planner never seem to connect. Most financial planners are really salespeople leaving most of the work to a disconnected staff. The person that is supposed to know you is never in the details.
- Disappointing investment returns – Investment advice never seems to on target. It is not terrible but never great.
Our BluePages process ends these frustration but it requires the entrepreneur acting to change your experience. Depending on your lifestyle, an entrepreneur will need to create $3-5 million of assets over the course of her career to walk away from the business. Are you and your financial planning team making the right decisions today to get there?
Financial planning for entrepreneurs is different – but not difficult!
Call me today to discuss your Entrepreneurial Financial Planning challenge: (404) 257-3317!